Birthday Bug
by ercarterfan
Summary: Abby and the flu on her birthday of all days..added 5th chapter
1. Default Chapter

**"Birthday Bug"**  

Abby's alarm clock was now blaring in the background as she fought to open her eyes. This was not how she wanted the day to start. "Err." She grumbled from under the covers as she batted at the clock next to her bed.

As she sat up, she immediately begin to regret it. Her head was pounding and it felt like there was an elephant sitting on top of her chest. "Why," she said as she flopped back down against the pillow, "did I choose not to get my flu shot." She laid there for a few more minutes.   
Feeling so crummy on her birthday was just her luck. Nothing was going to go right today as it was. That seemed to be Murphy's Law for her past birthdays, what would make this the exception to the rule. Her birthday, having the start of the flu, and having to work, seemed the perfect way to start a dreaded annual event.

She found herself fighting to get ready for work. She was not sure why she did not just call in sick with the way that she was feeling. Maybe it was because she knew that she needed the extra hours to pay the bills. The med-school loans were going to need to be repaid and she was a senior nurse, the hours sucked, but the extra money was sorely needed right now. Besides, it was just going to have to be that way for a little longer before she started to be paid for working as a doctor. Med-school would be over before she knew it.

The hot water from the shower felt good against her now screaming muscles. She gave going to work a second thought when she looked out the window too see the ground covered in a fresh layer of white snow. This was going to be one of the longest days of her life. She grabbed her keys, locked the door and started the trek to the hospital. The EL ride was not overly crowded, and she made her way thru to the ER with out much trouble.

"Are we nurse or doctor today?" She was greeted as she worked her way inside the hospital.

"It's so nice to see you today too Jerry." Abby replied, "Why?"

"We're back up with patients today." He said back to her. "So what is it?"

"Looks like I get to be everyone's favorite nurse today Jerry." Abby said looking at the board and then back at the waiting room.

"I think just about everyone in Chicago has the flu."

Abby coughed, "yeah you can say that again."

"Don't tell me that you have it too now." Jerry said looking at her funny. "Don't tell me that you ignored all those health posters's reminding you to get your annual flu shot."

Abby gave him one of those looks indicating that he had better drop the subject before she dropped it for him. Abby put her things in her locker at started to dig into the pile of patients that were beginning to pile up. As her shift when on, her cough got worse and her feet started to drag more and more. By the time, she had hit the halfway point in her shift the elephant was now jumping up and down on her chest and she was having an awful time trying to breathe. She wished that she could get the number of the truck that had hit her.

"Abby can you come in here for a minute." She heard Carter call out to her.

"Yeah I'll be right there." She called back to him, or rather more like whispered. She could not have mustered up the strength to yell back at him if she wanted to with the way that she was feeling right now. She finished what she was doing and then headed into the exam room where Carter had been waiting for her.

"Sit down." Carter said pointing to the gurney.

"No, if I do that," Abby said looked at it wishfully, "I might not ever be able to get back up off it."

"I know that." Carter said, "I can hear your wheezing across the hall. How long have you been feeling this bad?"

"Oh since this morning," Abby replied.

"Why didn't you call in sick?" Carter said as he listened to her.

"Don't start in on me Dr. Carter." Abby said grumpier than ever now.

"Why don't we get you started on a nebulizer to get your airway open again so that you can breathe a little easier? Sounds like you have a nasty case of bronchitis going on." Carter took the penlight from his pocket and flashed it in front her eyes, "now open wide."

"It's just the flu Carter; everyone in Chicago has it right now." Abby said batting his hands away from her.

"No I think it's more than that. I could play the drums on your chest right now Abby." Carter said, "and I am not going to take no for an answer on this one."

She laid back down on the gurney. Why fight with him right now. "Sure whatever."

"I'll be right back." Carter said heading out of the exam room.

Abby laid back and closed her eyes for a minute. Carter came back in and set her up with a breathing treatment. She had to admit that after a little while she did start to feel a little bit better than when she had woke up that morning.

Carter came back a little while later and found her sleeping soundly in the exam room. He passed the word along that she was not to be disturbed. And the end of his shift he came back to the exam room once again. Abby stirred when she heard the door open.

"I see you're awake." Carter said softly.

"Yeah," Abby said rubbing her eyes.

"How are you feeling now?" Carter asked.

"A little bit better I think. The elephant is not sitting on me anymore." She let a half smile cross her lips.

"I'm glad to hear that." Carter said as he sat down on the gurney by her feet. "I picked you up a prescription for some cough syrup with codeine to help you sleep tonight." He handed her bottle.

"Thanks Carter you didn't have to do that for me." Abby said taking it from him.

"It wasn't any trouble really Abby." He said. "I also know that you were working on your birthday. So I got you this while I was down on my break."

"You didn't have to Carter." Abby said smiling that he had remembered her birthday.

"Hey don't thank me before you see it." Carter said handing her a plate.

Abby happily accepted. Carter had brought her strawberry cheesecake from the cafeteria. "It's sweet of you Carter."

"After what I did to you earlier I only thought that it was fair." Carter said with a small chuckle.

Maybe the flu on her birthday was not such a bad thing after all.


	2. Chapter 2

**Birthday Bug Chapter Two:**

It had been a week now since Abby's birthday and things were going well for her. She had recovered from her birthday flu and was back in the ER now at almost a hundred percent. Tonight after her shift she and Carter were going to go out for dinner. He had asked her a couple of days ago and she didn't see any reason to tell him no. It would do her a world of good to get out and socialize a little.

Their relationship hadn't been all roses up until now, and they didn't have much of one right now either. They had managed to maintain the air of being friends, but that was about it. Abby didn't know if that was something that would change or if they were destined to just be good friends. After all you could never have too many friends.

Abby finished up her shift and headed home. After her EL train ride home, she let herself into the cold apartment, the heat not having kicked back in yet. She cranked it up hoping that she wouldn't freeze after she got out of the shower, right now she just wanted to wash the ER away.

A half hour later, a freshly showered Abby started to get dressed. She hadn't asked Carter where they were going so she wasn't sure just what she should wear. She just knew that she didn't have all that much time to finish getting ready before he would be there. She finally decided on black slacks and a black pullover sweater. Not dressy, but not completely casual either a combination of both. She gave herself a once over in the mirror, putting on lipstick just to wipe it off again. She never was happy with the shade that she picked. Hopefully she was dressed alright for where they were going, with Carter one could never tell.

She heard the knock on the door that she had been expecting and walked over to answer it. "Come on in John." Abby said with a soft smile on her face.

He held out flowers for her. "These are for you."

"Thank you." She laughed a little when she noticed that they were dead ones. Impressed that he remembered that she liked dried flowers.

"You about ready to go?" Carter asked her.

"Yeah I am." Abby said as she sat the flowers down on the kitchen table. She was looking forward to having dinner with him tonight. She just wouldn't tell him that. He could be a very charming man when he wanted to, but he could also be a stubborn jackass.

"Then shall we?" Carter held out his arm for her to take as they started back down to the street and to his car.

"Where are we going?" Abby asked in a soft small voice.

"A little restaurant that I just happened to stubble across," he said with a kind smile. "You like pasta right?"

"Yeah I do." Abby replied back as he opened up the car door for her.

"That's good."

After making sure that she was settled in the car, Carter closed the door for her and got in on the other side. He started them off down the Chicago streets for the small restaurant that he had driven by the other day but didn't have the time to stop and actually go inside. They were rather silent in the car but neither of them seemed to find it that much.

He found a place to park near it and he jumped out running around to open the door for her offering Abby his arm again before heading inside. The restaurant was indeed small and intimate. The perfect place for dinner and conversation if that was what you were looking for, but for some reason tonight the silence seemed to sit between them really well.

What did they have to talk about, there wasn't much right now. They could talk about the weather, work, but neither of them really wanted to talk about those things.

"So Abby, what looks good to you tonight?" Carter asked breaking the silence that was between them.

"Kind of hard to decide." She replied back her eyes going between the menu that she had opened in front of her and him.

"Yeah, it all sounds good." He finally set his down on the table. Carter couldn't stop staring at Abby there was something about the way that she looked in the soft candle light that had him captivated.

"I am thinking that the Angel hair pasta with the mushrooms and chicken sounds pretty good, I think I will have that." She set the menu down on the table in front of her now too. She realized that she didn't have it to hide behind now and it wasn't that she was nervous, well maybe she was a little bit. She didn't know if it was nerves or if it was the fact that sometimes as good as silence might be it made things feel just a tad bit awkward.

They ordered dinner and conversation between them remained sparse and words were few and far between when they did manage to find something to talk about. The food coming to the table was a welcomed reprieve for both of them, for neither could expect the other one to talk if they were eating.

They shared desert, death by chocolate, and then Carter slowly walked her back out to the car before once again making sure that she was settled in before getting in himself. This was an awkward date even though neither of them wanted it to be.

Abby didn't want to rush it, thinking that if there was going to be anything between them that they needed to take it slow. Carter didn't want to screw anything up. He wanted to rekindle what they had but he also didn't want to rush it.

There was a natural attraction between Carter and Abby, it was something that they could both feel, something that they both wanted to act on, but neither wanted to sacrifice what friendship that they had on that off chance that the other one wasn't feeling the same thing that they were.

He parked the car on the street in front of her apartment and then walked up with her so that she wouldn't be alone in the late hour.

"I had a nice time tonight Abby." Carter said as they reached her door.

Abby was digging out her keys now, but she looked up at him with a smile on her face. "I did too John. It was a very nice evening."

"I'm glad you had a good time."

"Yeah me too."

"You think that maybe you might like to go to the movies with me next Friday night?" Carter asked. One date down and he was hoping that there would be a few more, each one less awkward than the one before, but they both knew that this was something that they were going to need to take slow in order to make it work.

"I would like that John." Abby said with that same soft smile on her face, "just let me know what time, I think that if I have to work," which Abby knew that she probably did, but she had been lucky getting the day shifts for the most part, "I'll be off around seven, we can catch one after that."

"I'll call you later about it, or we can talk about it when we see each other at work." Right now he was just happy that she had said yes.

"Sounds good to me." Abby said standing up on her tip toes to gently kiss his cheek. "Good night John." She put her keys in the lock turning them as she glanced at him once more.

"Good night Abby." John replied to her retreating form. As he walked back down towards his car he had a giant smile on his face.

She put her things on the table and flopped down on the couch with a smile on her face, while tonight had been far from perfect, it hadn't been a disaster either. She had, had a good time while she was out with him and hoped that the next date would be as nice, if not better than this one. She also knew that with a little bit of time and some work from both of them, they would be able to work their way back to each other. It was just a matter of time and a whole lot of baby steps.


	3. Chapter 3

_A/N: Okay I will try and update this one a little more often than what I have been updating it, but I haven't come to any conclusions as to where I want to take it or what I want to do with it just yet, so please be patient with me._

**Chapter 3:**

Abby's week passed by rather slowly as she was looking forward to Friday night and the chance to go out with him again. She hadn't looked forward to a date in a long time, yet she was nervous and excited at the same time about this.

The clock was moving so slow today, she normally wasn't a clock watched but today she couldn't help it, she just wanted seven to get there so she could punch out, go home change, and go out to the movies. It had been awhile since she had the chance to go to the movies and the fact that it was another date with Carter made it seem even that much more special. Ah finally that damn clock hit seven and she made a mad beeline to punch out. Putting her stuff into her locker, practically slamming it shut as she ran to catch the EL.

She made it home, showered quickly, dressed, and changed her clothes a second, no third time wanting to make sure that she looked nice. After all, it was a date, not that she needed to impress Carter by looking nice but she wanted to in a way. Her doorbell rang at 8:30 they were going to catch the 9:30 show, or at least that is what he had told her they were going to do. He hadn't even told her what movie they had tickets too.

Abby crossed the room to open the door and let him in. He was dressed nice but casually too. She didn't feel like she was over dressed or even underdressed. "Come in." She said as she gave him a soft smile.

"Thanks Abby." Carter said as he crossed into the room. "You look lovely this evening."

Flattery would get him everywhere with her right now. Those were nice words to hear, and made the smile that was on her face grow a little more. "Thank you John." She said.

"Shall we go?" Carter asked as he watched as she grabbed her belongings so that they could leave. She knew that he had made plans for them and knowing Carter he already had the tickets for the movie.

"Yeah I'm ready to go." Abby answered him still smiling, "did you pick a movie?"

She watched the smile on his face grow some when she asked that question to him. "Movie, well not exactly." He said answering her as they headed down to the street level to get to his car.

She laughed slightly, "not exactly? What are we are hertz commercial tonight?"

"You are a comedian you know that." He said smiling, "I think that you will enjoy what I have for us tonight, sorry about the movie but tonight there's nothing good playing, well nothing that would be good for a romantic date."

"Well as long as you were going for the romantic factor then that gets you completely off the hook." She said.

"Glad that I am off the hook there." He said smiling still, as he held the door to the jeep open for her waiting until she got inside before closing the door crossing with quickness to his step to get to the driver's side. He slipped into the driver's seat before saying anything, "but I do think that you will like tonight, it's something special that I cooked up."

"It's okay." Abby said, "if it's something that you cooked up I am sure that you have something good planned, you are a real romantic at heart."

Carter just smiled over at him as they drove. He headed down by the lake and then found a quiet place, or what seemed like a rather quiet place parking the car. Abby looked around wondering what he had planned. He helped her out of the car and grabbed something out of the back of the jeep and then took her on his arm as they headed down towards the water.

"Well this is something that I thought would be a nice thing to do." He said as they strolled along, arm and arm. There was a warm breeze blowing, not hard but it made the night more bearable. The sky was clear and the stars were out tonight shinning in the sky, the moon reflecting off the water. It looked more like something out of one of those movies rather than a night in Chicago.

"I think that this is very nice John." Abby said almost afraid to break the silence that was between them, the peacefulness of the night. There was a sense of magic in the air as the walked along, that is if you believed in magic, it was something special as if they were supposed to be out there walking tonight. Abby had small goose bumps forming on her arms, she wasn't cold, she was sure it was caused by whatever it was in the air.

Carter walked pulling her a little closer to him, "this is the spot." He said as he held his hand out gesturing towards a spot on the sand. He let go of her arm and spread a blanket out on the sand, the warmth of the sand heated from the day time sun warming the blanket that he had laid down upon the sand.

Abby looked around the view from where they were at was beautiful and nearly breathtaking in it's own right. This was something that they had never done before. Granted they had spent time on the roof together watching the city lights, but that was about as far as they had gotten, before dating had been rough and there seemed to be very little time to do much, now here he was pulling out all the stops to make a memorable night.

This was something that was more out of a fairy tale than from real life that is what Abby considered real life. The way that he looked at her, the way that she was looking at him, was this how to people who where in love looked, how they acted, this night raised many questions, so many more than what she might have had answers for. Was she reading too much into it, was he just trying to do something nice for her, to give her that romantic evening that she had always secretly longed for, or was there more to this?

Those were not the thoughts that she was supposed to have on her mind. Surely she wasn't supposed to be thinking about anything right now, not analyzing her relationship. Carter probably had brought her out her so that she could relax and enjoy the calmness, the peacefulness of the night and here she was doing the exact opposite, why couldn't she just relax and allow life to give her something.

Because that wasn't who she was, that's why. Insecurity, fear, an inability to rely on those around her that is who she was, those feeling were a giant part of who she was, who she had always been. Never once had Abby ever seen how a real relationship worked, and for her she was certain that, that was a giant part of why as an adult she never could get one to work. She might not have had a lot of relationships but that didn't mean that she hadn't had any. There were a few that stuck out in her mind, but she was always with the "bad boys." The ones who drank to much, who rode motorcycles and had tattoos, the kind that you didn't bring home to mother and father. Not that she ever had to worry about bringing anyone home to mommy and daddy that was something that in Abby's life never really existed. Sure she had Maggie, but since when could Maggie ever be considered a mother figure, sure she was for all intense purposes Abby's biological mother but the ties that bind for the most part ended there, for what they had was not your typical mother/daughter relationship, it was an entity all to it's own.

"You still with me?" Carter's voice pulled Abby from her thoughts.

"Yeah," she said in a soft voice, determined in every way not to let her mind ruin tonight. She needed to stop thinking about all the bad that could happen, and for once in her life focus on the good, how happy she really could be with Carter. "This is absolutely perfect Carter. I couldn't have asked for a better way to spend a date with you."

"I'm glad that you like it." He whispered softly into her ear. She seemed distance but Carter wasn't going to push her, whatever she was thinking, he would just let her think, a deep discussion wasn't in his plans for this evening, unless that is she started it, for there was one thing that John Carter had learned about Abby, and that was when to push and when to back away, this tonight was one of those nights when you backed away.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4:

"Abby!"

"Huh," her head snapped around to see who was yelling at her. She had drifted off into her own little world of thought again. There was a certain doctor that had been running around who was at the moment the center of her attention.

"Mr. Daniels in three his IV bag needs changed, and curtain 2 needs another dose of Lasix." Ah a doctor barking orders at her, she would have rather stayed in her own little world rather than come back to that.

"I'm getting there." She casually replied back not thinking much of anything but trying to pull her mind back to the task at hand.

"What's up with Abby and Carter today?" Pratt asked Neela as they stood at the admit desk, "she's never been this off and well Carter's not fairing much better, he's lost three sets of x-rays and two charts."

"Men are the most dense species on the planet." Neela replied back to him, "please Abby and Carter are dating again. They have preoccupied by love syndrome today. I think it's been awhile since they've gone out."

"I am not dense." Pratt said in his defense, "how do you know they are going out again. I didn't hear anything about that in the gossip mill."

"Oh please, it's old news. They've been seeing each other for awhile now." Neela couldn't help but roll her eyes, "you need to find a new branch of the gossip tree if you didn't get that tidbit." She picked up a chart and started to walk away, "that and Abby told me."

Pratt just shook his head as he watched her walking away. Women always had the inside edge when it came to all the good gossip. Or that's how it seemed they had this natural instinct and could smell it a mile away.

He glanced Abby's direction and noticed that she had managed to at least get as far as the drug lock up before getting distracted again.

"Yeah I know, I have tomorrow off maybe we can do something then." She said.

"Can't I have to work tomorrow morning," Carter replied back. "How about tonight what time are you off?"

"Seven." Abby said, "we could grab something to eat."

"That would work." Carter said.

"When is your next day off?" Abby asked

"Lockhart my patients." Pratt yelled down the hall towards her.

"In a minute Pratt, I'm getting there." She responded back, "you're next day off?" She repeated to Carter.

"Tuesday." He answered her, "you have tomorrow off when else?"

"We could get together Tuesday that should work for both of us or you could meet up with me when you get off tomorrow night."

"I might be stuck here kind of late."

"That's okay you have a key you can let yourself in." She smiled when she said that.

"Open invite?" He said leaning in to give her a quick kiss on the forehead, completely aware now of the evil eye coming from Pratt.

"Anytime." She smiled up at him now, "I'd better get going before Pratt has blood vessel in his head explode."

"Yeah you had better. I have patients that I need to get to if I want to get out of here on time."

Abby just shook her head, "yeah you'd better. I'd hate to miss dinner with you cause you are sucked into and stuck in the ER vortex."

Carter stood up from where he had been leaning on the opening to the lockup. "Yeah I'll see you when I am done. Don't let Pratt push you around, he gives you trouble I can give him some trouble too."

That made Abby laugh, "don't worry Dr. Carter, I think I can handle Dr. Pratt."

"I know you can." He smiled as he started to disappear down the hallway.

Abby got what she needed and then started off in the direction of Pratt's patients.

"You going to be able to tear yourself away from Dr. Love there to give me a hand?" Pratt said rather sarcastically.

"At least I have a Dr. Love in my life, which is more than I can say for you right now. There Dr. Lonely."

"I'm not lonely I'm just a little more picky than you are and don't want to restart anything with any of my ex's."

"Must be quite a wake there then Pratt if you are still single after all this time." Abby said as she adjusted the new IV that she was hanging. "What have you dated anyone other than Deb since you've been here?"

"I'm not giving you any new material for the gossip tree." Pratt said as he examined a patient next to where Abby was working.

"Oh no, you can't do that," she poked back to him, "god forbid we talk about the all mighty Dr. Pratt."

"Yuck it up there Nurse Firecracker."

The patient that Pratt was tending to looked up at them, "what are you too married or something?"

"Oh god no." Abby said, "we'd kill each other."

"Yeah we sure would. We just work together that's all." He said to the patient, "and now she's going to make sure that you get taken up to x-ray we need a chest film."

"All right Doctor." Abby said emphasizing the word doctor.

"You'll be in good hands with Nurse Lockhart." Pratt said back, "just talk to her all you want about Dr. Carter and she should remember to pay attention to you."

"Ha very funny Pratt." She said as she moved over to help get the patient up to x-ray. "Better be careful or I might have to start some rumor about you and you know how hard they are to stop once they get going."

"Yeah beautiful." Pratt poked back, "I'm sure that you'd make it really good too."

Abby just shook her head as she headed off to radiology with her patient in tow. She was looking forward to getting off shift and spending some time with Carter.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5:

Abby got off and waited in the lounge for Carter so that they could go and grab a bit to eat. She curled up on the couch as the five minutes turned into fifteen turning into a half hour turning into Abby closing her eyes and falling asleep.

Carter had gotten stuck with Larry, ah the joys of Super Larry although this time he had really done it. The schmuck had seriously injured himself. Carter shook his head as he wondered why anyone would use a bike as a ladder to reach for something in the garage, when the bike suddenly rolled Larry fell flat on his back on the concrete not only messing up his back but also hitting his head.

It took Carter almost another hour and a half to make sure that Larry hadn't done any kind of serious damage to his body. Lucky for Larry that he hadn't been unlucky for Carter as he was being kept later than he wanted to be kept. When he finally managed to get off and head into the lounge Abby was curled up on her side looking quite peaceful sleeping there.

Carter had to stop and wonder if he could get a sleeping Abby home without waking her up, the odds of that happening where pretty slim but and he didn't want her to suddenly wake up and end up hurting or maiming him.

"Abby," he reached down gently shaking her arm, "Abby… Abby…"

She stretched as she started to wake up now a little more the vision of the lounge coming into her sight a little more as the darkness of sleep left her eyes. "Hmm, Carter." She said as she moved to sit up a little more on the couch, "what time is it?"

"It's about 9." He said sitting down next to her, "sorry I got stuck with Super Larry right before shift ended."

"Ah, good old Super Larry, what did he do this time?" Abby asked familiar with one of the ER's more famous frequently flyers, they weren't sure if Larry just like the medical attention or if the poor guy really just was accident prone.

"Fell off a bike using it as a step stool in the garage." Carter said to her, "of course onto concrete."

"Now that does sound like something Larry would do." She said rubbing her eyes, "lucky for him he had you."

"Yeah lucky for him." Carter said, "how about I take you home, we can hit a drive through or something on the way or I could order in when we get there. You look tired."

"I am but I think I can wake up long enough to get something to eat with you if you still wanted to go out."

"Na, I think we should stay in, we'd be a lot harder to find." He smiled softly at her now. "Besides I think we should curl up on your couch and have some quiet time to ourselves before it gets away from us."

"That sounds like a wonderful idea." She said standing up now off the couch and holding out her hand for Carter to take, "I'm assuming you are ready to get out of here."

"More than ready." He said taking her hand into his as they started to walk towards the door to leave the hospital. He kissed the side of her head softly as they walked holding her as close to him as he could but yet walk with out smashing into her every couple of steps, "sorry about our date tonight."

"It's more than okay." Abby said, "so what if we don't go out, we are spending time together and really right now that's all that matters."

Carter smiled when she said that, "you know you are right there. As long as I'm with you it doesn't matter where we spend it."

"You are a smart man John Carter." Abby said with a hint of sarcasm in her voice nothing overly harsh.

"Ha, glad you think so."

"Hmm, yeah I do," she said as they reached the jeep and Carter opened up the door letting her inside. "So what's it going to be, I think that I am in the mood for tacos."

"That sounds good to me." Carter said as he started the jeep and headed them on there way. It didn't take him long and he had food in a bag and was headed towards her apartment once more. "Do you mind if I just crash at your place tonight?"

"Need you ask," Abby said looking over at him, "of course you can. Besides I think that we are both to tired for you to be driving any place after we eat. You have to work in the morning and my place is closer than yours. Give you a few more minutes to sleep."

"I was hoping for the few more minutes with you." He grinned over at her for a minute before focusing back on the road and finding a place near her building to park.

"That's a little sappy even for you." She said, "but sweet all the same."

"Sorry." He grinned before climbing out and running over to her side to get the door for her. They walked up to her apartment and both of them flopped down on the couch to eat.

"This is the way to end a day." Abby said, "especially a long one."

"That it is, I will have to agree with you there." He wrapped an arm around her pulling her in close to him, leaning down to give her a kiss, "but you can't end it without one of those."

She wrapped her arms around him now a little tighter, just inches away from him, "no you can't." She said right before she kissed him back.

As Carter held onto her keeping her close and not breaking the contact of their kiss, he reached up and pulled the blanket down over them both. Finally he did break it and moved Abby so that she was laying more comfortable on him. "I changed my mind." He said softly, "that isn't the way to end the day."

"What?" She said caught off guard.

"This is the way to end the day, with you laying here in my arms wrapped up snug as a bug, with nothing else around but us." He rested his chin on the top of his head. "Just the two of us."


End file.
